Newsletter #1584

No league action for the Blues this weekend due to the international break.

We have opinion tonight on the Abu Dhabi show game, the wobble in form and a request for a long lost Blue.

OPINION: ABU DHABI GAME I

Someone please tell me why we played this game? Supposed to be something of a public relations exercise so we send our youth team to lose 1-0 to a bunch of locals. Your average punter in Abu Dhabi doesn’t know that was not City’s regular line-up. All he/she knows is this supposed super Premier League team shows up and loses 1-0.

What P.R. value is that? This is where City really shoot themselves in the foot.

Two years ago we had that disastrous trip to Thailand, right after that débâcle at Middlesbrough. This year we have that South Africa tournament and lose two out of three to the locals. United and Chelsea would never do that. They would take decent teams over, play entertaining football and inevitably win. If I was paying money to watch City play today I would have felt totally ripped off.

If Hughes is going to take a team overseas on a P.R. mission, take a decent team or don’t bother. If I was the team owners, watching today’s performance I would be totally embarrassed.

I shake my head in amazement.

OPINION: ABU DHABI GAME II

I have watched the kids and reserves a few times and I always ask friends who live in Manchester for reports on how the new batch of kids is doing so it concerns me a wee bit that Hughes played:

• Vidal at left back when he’s a right back
• Tutte at right wing when he normally plays central midfield
• Marshall at left wing when he normally plays central midfield

Very strange and it certainly doesn’t reflect on how these 3 players perform normally. I must therefore conclude that Mark Hughes really enjoys playing folks out of position in the reserves as well as the first team.

OPINION: MONEY, DEFENCE AND QUICK FIXES

It’s been a long time since I expressed an opinion, mainly because I was reasonably content with the start to our season. It is very apparent to anyone watching City that we are suspect at the back. There have been some excellent opinions from Phil Banerjee, Paul Calder, John Breen and Steve Burrows, who have eloquently explained what they see as a perceived deficiency in Mark Hughes’ management (and his coaching staff). It’s unfortunate that Lescott has been burdened by a very large transfer fee, no different to the signing of Santa Cruz: both these players were grotesquely “over-priced”, but knowing money bags City would not take no for an answer, they held out for the best price and more, and we ended up paying the dosh. Look at the way Wenger buys his players: he finds little gems all over the place and turns them into stars. Just look at the 2 left backs they have on their books – excellent in every way – compare that to ours?

I too, am of the same opinion as other contributors, that both our full backs are suspect, and this has inadvertently affected the form of our 2 centre backs. Last week, Bridge’s performance for any other club would have led to him being substituted by half time (Alan Hansen was spot on in his analysis); that Hughes chooses to defend Bridge is inexcusable.

A good coach spots a weakness and then finds a way of remedying it as quickly as possible. With Hughes, he tends to mollycoddle his “stars”. Both Bridge and Richards should be offloaded as soon as possible, and be replaced with 2 quality full backs (after all, money is no problem for us). How difficult is it for Hughes and his coaching team to analyse when things are going wrong in a match, and address them – we have a good bench of subs, but he never makes good use of it. What is the point in having Kompany and Silvinho and not using them? I agree, Lescott should have played left back and Kompany could have partnered Toure last weekend.

There have been a few occasions when both Barry and Tevez, have not been performing to the levels we expect of them, but yet they have not been subbed? There are also many occasions when a player of Weiss’s talent could be used to unlock a match, but Hughes just leaves him on the bench, e.g. Birmingham and Burnley. Last Saturday against Burnley, with 15 minutes left, take off Ireland and bring on de Jong; you know what you are going to get, plenty of work rate and someone who protects the back four, whilst at other times, you need Ireland to start in place of de Jong. I really feel that Hughes does not play the best team depending upon who the opposition is (sticks with the same players each time regardless, if they are having a poor match) and whether we are home or away. He must understand that with teams tiring, impact substitutions make a big difference; look what Fulham and Burnley did. We also need to get one of our midfielders to mimic what Fabregas does for Arsenal, create and score goals. Ireland did that for us last season but this season, for whatever reason, he is well below par.

On the Robinho front, I would be more than happy if we sold him to Barcelona, and I would love us to replace him with Angel de Maria, the Argentinian international winger who plays for Benfica; he is a very tricky winger who makes things happen, and with 2 Argies in our team, he would settle in quickly.

See we lost in Abu Dhabi – bad mistake by Stuart Taylor!

Regarding next week, even though Liverpool are going through a difficult patch, I cannot see us beating them, a draw at best (and that’s possibly without Torres and Benayoun).

I really hope Hughes makes the necessary changes to get us back on track, or else we are going to throw away a promising start to the season.

Come on City!

REQUEST: ROB POLLICK ARE YOU THERE?

I am searching for a serial City supporter Rob Pollick or Pollock who emigrated to Australia about 1984/5 in the Sydney area.

We used to share a house together in Worcester when he worked for Lea and Perrins Sauce. He settled there, parents joined him and so lost all contact with his family who were based in Manchester. Very keen to meet up with him again when we visit in January and renew debates about old Luton vs. City matches!

If any of your Sydney based Blues know of Rob, please let me know or pass on my details to him!

RESULTS

League table to 15 November 2009 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         12  6  0  0 16  1  4  0  2 13  7 10  0  2  29   8  21  30
 2 Arsenal         11  5  0  0 20  4  3  1  2 16 10  8  1  2  36  14  22  25
 3 Manchester Utd  12  5  1  0 13  7  3  0  3 10  5  8  1  3  23  12  11  25
 4 Tottenham H.    12  4  0  2 12  6  3  1  2 11 11  7  1  4  23  17   6  22
 5 Aston Villa     12  4  1  1 12  5  2  2  2  8  7  6  3  3  20  12   8  21
 6 Manchester City 11  3  2  0 13  8  2  3  1  8  6  5  5  1  21  14   7  20
 7 Liverpool       12  4  1  1 19  6  2  0  4  8 12  6  1  5  27  18   9  19
 8 Sunderland      12  4  1  1 15  9  1  1  4  5 10  5  2  5  20  19   1  17
 9 Stoke City      12  3  1  2  8  7  1  3  2  4  8  4  4  4  12  15  -3  16
10 Burnley         12  5  0  1 10  5  0  1  5  5 20  5  1  6  15  25 -10  16
11 Fulham          11  3  0  2  7  5  1  3  2  7  9  4  3  4  14  14   0  15
12 Everton         11  2  3  1  9 10  2  0  3  6  7  4  3  4  15  17  -2  15
13 Wigan Athletic  12  2  2  2  6  9  2  0  4  7 13  4  2  6  13  22  -9  14
14 Blackburn R.    11  4  1  1 11  7  0  0  5  3 18  4  1  6  14  25 -11  13
15 Birmingham City 12  2  2  2  4  4  1  1  4  6 10  3  3  6  10  14  -4  12
16 Bolton Wndrs    11  1  2  3  8 13  2  0  3  7 11  3  2  6  15  24  -9  11
17 Hull City       12  3  1  2  6  8  0  1  5  4 17  3  2  7  10  25 -15  11
18 West Ham United 12  1  2  3 10 12  1  2  3  6  8  2  4  6  16  20  -4  10
19 Wolves          12  1  2  3  5 10  1  2  3  7 12  2  4  6  12  22 -10  10
20 Portsmouth      12  1  0  5  7  8  1  1  4  3 10  2  1  9  10  18  -8   7

MCIVTA FAQ [v0910.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
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[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings by email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.mcivta.com/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site. You can also follow on www.twitter.com/mcivta to get the latest updates.

[4] What is the club’s official web site?

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ and the official club Twitter page at www.twitter.com/mcfc. The club also has a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mcfcofficial

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.mancitycsa.com/) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

[8] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer, http://www.soccertv.com/, and http://www.livesoccertv.com/.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.mcivta.com/players/

[11] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

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The views expressed in MCIVTA are entirely those of the subscribersand there is no intention to represent these opinions as being thoseof Manchester City Football Club, nor of any of the companies anduniversities by whom the subscribers are employed. It is not inany way whatsoever connected to the club or any other relatedorganisation and is simply a group of supporters using this mediumas a means of disseminating news and exchanging opinions.

Heidi Pickup, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: